Long-Form Film Criticism and Fiction Writing by Derek Jacobs
The Red Band trailer for the sequel to the Vacation series was released online yesterday (it isn’t a reboot, as the old characters appear and it is the same timeline). I was surprised to see both raunchy and updated subject matter, and a tongue-in-cheek tone to aspects of the movie. Much as 22 Jump Street … Read more
With Avengers: Age of Ultron hitting theaters early in May and Ant-Man putting the finished touches on Phase II, I found myself thinking again about the other ten films that form the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Generally speaking, these blockbusters based on Marvel’s comic book heroes offer a fun movie-going experience, but having seen them … Read more
Alejandro Iñárritu’s Birdman, Or: (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) dedicates itself to providing commentary on the state of the dramatic arts, especially in Hollywood, while also offering a haunting, too-familiar meditation on ego and inner conflict. These two foci are married through telling the story of an actor named Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) who is … Read more